The MRUC study SPARR, short for Sections, Pullouts and Attitudinal Readership Research, took note of other media like television and radio as part of its profiling of media consumption habits

The sindoor-wielding-mangalsutra-touting saas-bahu brigade on STAR Plus has ensured that the channel is on the top of the mass television heap, while Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM has stolen a march over its competitors with a very pronounced Bollywood music slant. These are among the more interesting topline findings of SPARR, short for Sections, Pullouts and Attitudinal Readership Research, conducted by Media Research Users Council (MRUC) and presented in Mumbai earlier this week.

While the main aim of SPARR was to provide an understanding of the nuances of readers' attitude towards newspaper pullouts and sections, it also took note of other media like television and radio as part of its profiling of media consumption habits.

According to the MRUC study, which was conducted between July and August 2003 in Mumbai with a sample size of 1,920 (12-plus years, all SECs), STAR Plus has a viewership of 28 per cent among men and 46 per cent among women, with a large chunk of SEC A viewers, about 39 per cent, tuning on to the channel on a regular basis. Among SEC D/E audiences too STAR Plus enjoys a sizeable viewership, with 36 per cent tuning on to the channel for their daily dose of drama.

Among radio stations studied, Radio Mirchi enjoys the highest listenership with 58 per cent of men and 56 per cent of women listeners tuning on to 98.3 FM. The channel seems to be a big draw among the younger lot of audiences too, with 68 per cent among the 12-17-age group of listeners tuning to it. State-owned Vividh Bharati comes in at No 3 with bulk of its listenership - about 47 per cent - coming in from the 46-years-plus age group

In an interesting attempt, the study has profiled consumers into seven groups in terms of their psychographics. These are Underprivileged Escapist, Unconcerned, Average Consumer, Aspiring Consumer, Unhappy Consumer, Privileged Consumer and Constrained Consumer. A quick look at the television consumption patterns of these audience groups shows that STAR Plus is the most watched channel in Mumbai among all of them, with news and current affairs channel Aaj Tak featuring prominently among the Top 5 channels in the city, edging past language channel Alpha Marathi with a smallish margin. DD National is No 2 in the pecking order with 11 per cent of women and 12 per cent of SEC D/E audiences tuning on to it.